Q. Name of your favorite composer or music artist?

Q. Favorite movie

Q. Favorite television show

Revealing Questions

Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?

A. Dead lucky to have the job I have.

Q. What is your motto or maxim?

A. Look for humor, find life.

Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?

A. Without question, perfect happiness includes a steady diet of humor. I am pathologically addicted to the hearty laugh, and spend much of my life in pursuit of it. Probably, the midst of a genuine, helpless fit of laughter is the point of emotional nirvana for me. On a broader level, I have found my periods of deepest satisfaction were when my kids were younger, I was totally consumed in taking care of them every day, and my writing life was going really well too. That feeling of having a strong sense of purpose every day, feeling that purpose is a mighty one (thank you, George Bernard Shaw), and feeling that you are doing a pretty good job of it all, that state is pretty hard to top. These days, my kids are at the point of not really needing me as much as I would like them to. That has, frankly been a tough adjustment for me. But adaptation is probably life's most useful skill.

Q. What’s your greatest fear?

A. Anything deadly befalling my children.

Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?

A. A modest little house on a modest, remote little beach (New England coast, thank you), where I could hear pounding surf most of the time..

Q. Which living person do you most admire?

A. Muhammad Ali

Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?

A. Certain swear words. Intellectually childish and lazy on my part.

Q. What do you regret most?

A. I wish I approached my adolescence more like Ferris Bueller did.

Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?

A. A genuine grasp of music, almost any instrument would do.

Q. What’s your greatest flaw?

A. I tend to let my appetites make decisions for me.

Q. What’s your best quality?

A. I adapt, eventually, to most realities.

Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?

A. A dolphin. Is there any creature on earth that seems to be enjoying itself more than the dolphin?

Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?

A. I'm a goof, a high percentage of the time.

Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?

A. There is no definitive here, but I do love Hellboy's attitude.

Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?

A. The artist Damien Hirst, who qualifies by managing to be both artistically nonexistent and vile at the same time.

Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?

Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?

A. Monstrously unfair question. Answer would change daily. Right now: Jessica by the Allman Brothers; One Week by Barenaked Ladies; No Surrender by Bruce Springsteen; Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez; Promised Land by Chuck Berry